Literacy Resources/Articles for Parents

Learning more than one language is an exciting and beneficial tool for all people. Since preschoolers are learning so much at such a quick rate, there are often questions about when to use each language. Remember that all children develop at their own pace. Keeping a native language while also learning English is very important for families. This skill will also serve your child well in the future. Following are answers to some frequently asked questions about emergent literacy in more than one language.

Bilingual FAQ

The Literacy House is a fun, interactive tour of a house. You will find tips on ways to support your child’s learning in every room of the house.

http://www.famlit.org/onlineactivities/house/swf/index.htm

The Families Learning Together Summer Packet (2012) is a summer literacy calendar. Try to complete a couple of activities each week so your child maintains their literacy skills over the summer. This calendar includes activities, book recommendations and fun literacy tips!

Families Learning Together Summer Packet (2012)

Cultivating Readers is a handbook from the National Center for Family Literacy with tips to grow reading skills. Choose a booklet for birth to three, three to five, or six to eight years old. The handbooks describes the developmental phases of early education and learning. Reading skills that are discussed include: alphabet knowledge, fluency, oral language, phonemic awareness, phonics, phonological awareness, print awareness, text comprehension, vocabulary and writing.

http://www.famlit.org/pdf/cultivating-readers.pdf

Pre-School Smarties: The following links are filled with tips to support your child’s early learning. Check them out.

Kitchen Art for Preschoolers.

http://www.preksmarties.com/preschoolers/kitchenart.htm

Kitchen Math for Preschoolers

http://www.preksmarties.com/math/kitchen.htm

Why Build a Sandcastle?

http://www.preksmarties.com/preschoolers/sandcastle.htm

Learning Should Be Fun

http://www.preksmarties.com/preschoolers/learning.htm

Board Games for Preschoolers

http://www.preksmarties.com/preschoolers/boardgames.htm

Learning to Listen

http://www.preksmarties.com/connection/index.htm

Many families in the United States face an important choice. Should their children focus on learning only English? Or should children also be fluent in their home language? Children who learn more than one language often benefit in school and later in life. Click here to read more about bilingual literacy. (English, Spanish, Polish).

http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/bilingual.htm

Click below for information, activities and tips on multilingual living.

http://www.multilingualliving.com/category/activities/

Sharing Books with Your Preschooler. Even before 3- to 5-year-olds recognize letters, they can learn a lot about reading and writing when adults share books with them. So read aloud to your preschooler—for enjoyment and for long-term benefits! (English, Spanish, Polish).

http://illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/bookspreschooler.htm

Countdown to Kindergarten: Tips for turning everyday activities into learning activites.

http://www.countdownmd.org/pdfs/brochures/eng_countdown.pdf (English)

Countdown to Kindergarten is available in all of the languages listed below. Click the link below and then select one of the languages listed.

http://www.mdchildcare.org/countdownmd/countdown_order_tips.html

Amharic      Arabic      Brazilian Portugese
English        Farsi        French
Guijarati      Hindi        Haitan Creole
Korean        Russian    Spanish
Tagalog       Urdu       Traditional Chinese
Yoruba        Vietnamese